Architect hired for new Somersworth grade school

SOMERSWORTH — An architectural firm with local experience has been selected ahead of schedule to design the city's new elementary school.

Team Design/Harriman, comprised of two firms that merged last year, was picked out of nine applicants, the Joint Building Committee announced last week. It had set a July 1 deadline for picking an architect.

Team Design is a 23-year-old firm that designed Dover Middle School in 1999; Harriman is a 139-year-old firm that designed Kennebunk Elementary School in 2004. Harriman, the seventh-oldest design firm in the country, acquired Team Design in July 2008. Both have offices in New Hampshire and Maine.

The new school will replace Hilltop Elementary, which had its top two floors closed because of code violations. It will be built off Stackpole Road, with enough space for up to 630 kindergarten through fifth-grade students and 22 classrooms, according to preliminary estimates. Construction is expected to begin next April and be completed by August 2011.

The project's budget is $19.9 million. School officials recently won an interest-free bond that was part of the federal stimulus package to cover the costs.